In Chapter two of “Native Americans: Their Story” I will spend more attention to their history. Because many people enjoy watching movies, I thought that it would be fun idea for me to buy a DVD, to watch it and write a review for The Moderate Voice. My hope was, of course, that the DVD would prove to be a good and interesting watch, that I could encourage all of you to watch it as well, as to be entertained and educated at the same time.
Not so.
The DVD I chose is The Great Indian Wars: 1840-1890, publisher House of Knowledge. The makers of this documentary used authentic material and such material is – of course – always welcome. Sadly, they also seem to have used material from Westerns. Westerns in which savage Indians attack American troops, and in which the American troops – who are always in the minority for some reason – defend themselves in a courageous manner for the good and honor of the nation.
In the introduction, the narrator briefly mentions that the underlying cause of any Indian-aggressiveness was that colonists moved into their lands, destroyed the life stock the Indians relied on, etc. The narrator also mentions the horrible way Indians were treated.
Not bad so far… but, indeed, not bad so far.
Suddenly the emphasis becomes that Indians broke their promises. Indians broke treaties. How about mentioning the fact that America already had a long history of breaking treaties with the Indians?
When the American forces build a fort (in Indian territory of course), the documentary makes it seem as if the Indians attacked that fort, without being provoked in any way, shape or form. In fact, a little bit more into the movie, Indians are described as “blood thirsty”, “savages”, etc.
A quote:
“Their thirst for […] blood seemed […] unconquerable”
Yes, that is a real quote.
The leaders of the Indians are depicted as “warmongerers”. Warmongerers? Their lands were taken away from them time and time again and lets not forget that Indians abandoned their traditional more symbolic kind of warfare in favor of death and destruction by copying the behavior of the white immigrantscolonists.
The makers couldshould have spent much more attention to how the Indians suffered leading up to the wars, how many of them were killed, how entire villages were destroyed (even during the time period of the ‘documentary’ by the way).
When the American government wanted to move the Indian tribes to Arkansas I believe, the ‘documentary’ makes it seem as if it’s a magnificent offer: they get schools, for nothing, land, teachers, help in any way they need it… all out of the goodness from the hearts of the American leaders. The ‘only’ thing they need to do is to give up their lands, send their children to American type schools and, real quote again, “give up their robing ways”.
O, they also received many, many presents!
Good, they just had to agree to deportation and giving up their entire culture! If that’s not an offer one cannot refuse, nothing is!
When Custer destroys an entire village, it’s not that a big deal because… it made Indian violenc e less. That’ll teach those savages!
Yes, I’m extremely positive about this piece of crap. It was a complete waste of money and of time. It’s one big piece of propaganda, that’s all it is.
And… it becomes even worse: I tried – I truly tried – to watch the entire DVD. But after 45 minutes I could take it no more. The entire ‘documentary’ is 96 minutes, I got almost halfway.
And that is actually, quite an accomplishment.
At Amazon, I could not find the exact same DVD I just watched, but I did find this one (The Great Indian Wars: 1540 – 1890). When I read the reviews and saw the front of the DVD I was wondering whether it’s all part of the same series or not and / or whether they gave certain shorter time periods out in separate DVD’s. Could be, better said, seems to be so, but I’m not sure (the studio is different…). It sounds all very familiar though.
One ‘reviewer’ wrote on The Great Indian Wars: 1540 – 1890:
This film was incredibly disappointing considering the relative deficiency of film work in this field. This DVD set is historically irresponsible in a number of ways, for example, the film continually shows a picture of Crazy Horse when referring to him, but most anyone with even a cursory knowledge of American Indian History knows Crazy Horse was never photographed. Story-lines are vague. Figures and numbers offered always favor the American Military. Indians depicted in live-action re-creations constantly are shown as a group, brutally beating American soldiers. Wounded Knee is reffered to as the “last great battle.” The Sand Creek massacre is borderline depicted as being deserved. Ethically debateable American military leaders are depicted in a heroic light.
This film set is designed for White American males who get excited about old westerns that depict Indians as savage idiots. If this set was ever used in a classroom I only hope it would serve as an example of what is wrong with America’s handling of Indian History.
No Indian people were interviewed for this film. No Indian people were used in re-enactments. No reputable scholars appear in the film. The Pro-American white men that are interviewed in the film are people I have never heard of in all my years as an Indian History scholar. Id really like to know what the film-maker’s sources were for their research. The film contributes nothing relevant or new to the field. If you are a scholar in the field of 19th Century and American Indian History, stay away from this film unless you are looking for laughs or an opportunity to degrade your knowledge.
Lastly, if anyone of you knows about a better documentary / movie / etc. please let me know. I received some advise, for instance regarding Dancing with Wolves, which is a movie I will certainly watch. If there – however – are more good movies / documentaries on this subject, let me know.
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